A detailed analysis of CSR

CSR- the right investment to earn success and dignity!

Ideating a concept and executing it the right way are two different things. You need to have a strong determination, a powerful vision and a highly efficient blueprint to actualise the concept. Same is the case with the various businesses of today. The increasing competition in today's world has resulted in the emergence of various strategies, which actually keeps the company directed on its path of goal accomplishment. Further, these techniques prove to be the ideal source to gain and retain the attention of its consumers.

One such advanced tool is CSR- Corporate Social Responsibility. The widespread use of CSR by globally recognised corporates, is the reason it has been introduced as a subject in your business related courses. Also, it is due to the very purpose of all the universities today, to train you- its students, in an absolute resourceful way, that you get to study such practically accepted concepts in your curriculum.

This blog is meant to provide you a detailed understanding of the CSR, its various types, examples, views, case studies and much more.

What is CSR?

As rightly pointed out by Bill Ford, efficient business strategies and a progressive working environment, both are essential for the betterment of a company’s business as well for the consumers. Additionally, a strong back of the respective audience is highly important to sustain the image.

The concept of CSR is also based on the same vision. In literal terms Corporate social Responsibility can be defined as the moral and ethical practices which companies incorporate in its working culture to benefit the world around. These practises can vary in accordance to the amount invested, industry type, audience preferences and the urgency in the need of the environmental changes in the places the audience of the organization is based at.

CSR is recognised as one of the most prominent tools to gain the attention of the customers and earn their loyalty to a greater extent. As a student, you need to understand the very basic reason why companies get involved in such activities.

So, the next section details for you, the importance of conceptualising and adopting varied Corporate Social Responsibility for the companies.

Why is CSR important for Business?

CSR as a practice is today highly popular and widely practised by the organisations of all the countries around the globe. These exercises have been the extremely motivating source for many customers to continue taking the practises of their favourite brands. This further helps the companies sustain their connection with the customers and redesign its positive brand image in their mind.

To mention in detail, following are the ways CSR is helpful for the brands around the globe:

• Highly effective branding tool

  CSR is considered to be one of the most effective tools of branding. Its magnitude is far reaching, due to which it produces better benefits for the company in terms of financial gains as well as forming a strong public image. There are various types of CSR, which is why it becomes even more convenient for brands to strategise accordingly and magnify its effect.

• Reaches out to potential customers

  As a result of the increased magnitude, the companies get the opportunity to expand its reach to potential customers. Other than using the cold calling or relative business development techniques, CSR proves to be an adequate and simple method to build business. This happens much because of the positivity that is created by the CSR activities, carried out by the companies.

• Cost effective

  The Corporate social Responsibility campaigns a set of designed works, more in the form of a Public Relations activity, as it employs the involvement of both the internal and the external public. Moreover, it is not carried out in a direct advertisement method and its purpose is associated with a social cause. Moving further, the models for the campaign are the actual volunteers, who do not need to be paid, but willingly take part in the CSR activity, due to the authenticity of the purpose associated with it.

• High involvement of employees

  CSR over the time has proven to be an adequate employee engagement tool. It is by the virtue of this socially engaging tool, that employees of the company, themselves wish to become a part of the endeavour and support the organisation in the respective way. In fact, the employees feel an inner satisfaction when they get involved in such CSR activities, which becomes a significant reason for their long term association with the company.

• Inquisitive and proud customers

  When a customer gets to see his brand being associated with a social/ ethical or environmental cause, then it fills him with pride. He experiences a sudden surge in his emotions towards the brand and his inclination to the CSR activity increases even more. This pride of the customer, benefits the brand in the form of ‘Word Of Mouth’ publicity, which further acts as a great source of growth for the brand and the company.

• Increases brand loyalty

  Further to the above step, when the customer gets introduced to the social benefitting side of his brand, then his loyalty towards the company increases all the more. In fact he becomes a fan of the product and signs an invisible consumer bond with the brand. Such is the power of the CSR that it can move mountains and draw even the toughest crackable clients closer to the final step of product purchase.

• An effort towards environment change

  Last but not least, the strategy of CSR helps the company to play its part towards the betterment of the society around. It brings a lot of positivity and contentment in the internal working environment of the organisation and even spreads the same optimism outside the company’s reach. Furthermore, the difference that the endeavour of the company makes to nature or to the people, brings a lot of well wishes for its development and growth.

Types of Corporate Social Responsibility

Every organisation has its own sphere of work, due to which it adopts different ways to give it back to the society. Also, the management of every company has its own ideology, which is why there are separate methodologies with the help of which it actuallises its vision with different types of CSR activities. However, the aim of the companies generally ranges from one or more as described in the above section.

Being a student, you get a lot of assignments on CSR, which are mostly in the form of case studies. So you need to make sure that you evaluate the type of Corporate Social Responsibility carried out by the organisation first and then move towards the analysis of the case study. In the middle of the assignment, if you face any difficulties in accessing the information or writing it thoroughly, then you can anytime consult our associates. Our Assignment helpers ensure to give you the proper guidance and encouragement to complete your assignment. On the other hand if you are unable to complete your CSR assignment, then we can even solve the entire college assignment for you in the quickest time possible.

There are four types of Corporate Social Responsibility as discussed below:

• Ethical Responsibility

  The word ‘ethical’ in general relates to moral principles. Similarly, ‘Ethical Responsibility’ involves the implementation of moral principles by a company with respect to its employees, suppliers and the society. There are many moral duties which a company has to perform such as following fair labor practices and ensuring the well-being of its employees as well as suppliers. All these moral duties are guarded under the shield of ethical responsibility.

  Furthermore, ethical responsibility keeps a company reminded of resorting to a moral conduct, while aspiring to accomplish its goal of attaining more and more profits. To sum up, ethical responsibility binds a company to take good care of its employees, suppliers and the society as a whole, while chasing success.

• Philanthropic Responsibility

  Philanthropic responsibility inspires a company to serve as a healer for the humankind. With its philanthropic responsibility, a company takes the initiative of serving humanity, by bringing comfort to the lives of the needy and the underprivileged sections of the society. There are many ways in which a company can shoulder its philanthropic responsibility towards humankind. Making donations for the welfare of the needy, supporting the education of underprivileged children and driving food campaigns for the hungry are some examples.

  It is by following these philanthropic responsibilities with utmost sincerity, that companies across the globe contribute their bit towards helping humanity.

• Environmental Responsibility

  It is a well- known fact that the environment is under threat. Human activities have so polluted the environment, that it has lost its natural balance. Global warming, ozone layer depletion and the drastic changes in climate, are all results of the harm, which has been caused to the environment by different human activities. It is with the growing awareness of these aspects that the companies have been bound to fulfil their environmental responsibility with dedication.

  This is because the consumers have now got inclined towards those brands and products, which claim to cause either no or the least harm to the environment. Thus, companies are now taking numerous steps to effectuate their environmental responsibility at priority such as minimizing the use of plastics, following waste treatment practices before discharge and reducing all kinds of environmental pollution.

• Economic Responsibility

  Economic Responsibility drives a company to actively work towards its growth and progress to support the overall economy. Along with this, it also binds a company to analyze all its economic decisions in detail, in context to their impact on its business, revenue generation and the society, in its entirety, before taking the final call.

  It is by accepting its economic responsibility with sincerity that a company can maintain perfect harmony between its endeavor to grow by leaps and bounds and its responsibilities towards humanity and the environment. Thus, the economic responsibility prompts companies to take those decisions only which can promote growth without causing harm to its employees, human kind and the environment.

Thus, this section helps you understand the basic types of CSR and how it is important for the companies to carry them forward. It is highly imperative for you as a student to understand the basic difference and get the concepts clear. Now, to explain things further, we are moving to the examples of CSR.

Examples of CSR

CSR activities may include the simple motive of reducing carbon prints in the environment to setting an aim of providing education to a million of students. The type of CSR activity carried by a company depends largely upon the area it is dealing into and the category of audience it caters to. Few of the most renowned companies of the world who have invested their intelligence and efforts in the betterment of the environment and society around include the following names:

• Google

  One of the most powerful brands in the world, Google is known for its creative measures and intellect among its people. It always takes a step beyond the expected and surprises its customers with its initiatives. From its environment friendly initiatives to standing up for social causes, Google has always torched a positive light in the path of CSR. Additionally, the company has been able to bag high scores in CSR due to the fact that its data centre uses 50% less energy as compared to any other company in the world. Google under Csr has launched "aiming for carbon free by 2030" through which company aims to be on 100% renewable energy.

  Moreover, it has committed a considerable amount of $1Billion to the task of initialising renewable energy products and further helps many other companies to lessen their environmental impact.

• Pfizer

  The company has been popularly known for its philanthropic works around the world in the field of women upliftment as well as providing medications at a minimal cost. It creates awareness about the non- infectious diseases and extends its support to the children and women who do not get adequate care. One prevalent example of this endeavor is the reduction that it makes in the prices of Pneumonia and blood infection vaccination- Prevnar 13, for the people in the emergency situations and the refugee camps.

• Ford Motor Company

  One of the oldest and highly popular vehicle brands in the world, Ford Motors takes every step possible to reduce its impact on the surroundings. The company is making efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions by making use of its EcoBoost Engine to add the fuel efficiency. Further with an investment of $11billion, the company is planning to introduce 40 electrified vehicles by 2022. Moreover, to lower down the consumption of electricity, the company’s dealerships depend upon wind sail and Solar PV Systems to supply power to their respective locations.

• Coca Cola

  The emission of greenhouse gases is the major cause of global warming, which is an issue of concern for the entire world. Combustion of fuels such as Diesel and Petrol in automobiles comprises the biggest proportion among factors responsible for excessive emission of greenhouse gases. In response to this alarming cause of environmental damage, the Coca Cola company shifted to the utilization of alternative fuels, in its fleet of delivery trucks. It is by doing so, that this company is looking forward to successfully bringing nearly 25% reduction in its carbon footprint by the end of this year.

• TOMS

  This leading manufacturer of shoes, is known for making significant contributions to the world and humanity, by shouldering its corporate social responsibility with sincerity. TOMS has been donating a pair of shoes to the needy and underprivileged children, for every pair of shoes it sells. As per statistics, TOMS has successfully donated nearly 60 million shoes by now. Not only this, the company has also taken a lead in utilizing a portion of its revenue generation, on providing medical facilities and accessories to the visually impaired. This way, TOMS is contributing its bit to serve the humanity with such initiatives

These examples can be rightly used while mentioning CSR activities by various companies in your college assignments. If you find difficulties in accomplishing your mission and want your assignment to carry more details, then you can simply count upon our online assignment help services. We, at Assignmenthelp4me, are dedicated to facilitate ease in every task you assign to us. We take every step possible to make sure that all your assignments are done with precision, with each guideline followed accurately.

Further, to the examples, this blog will help you understand the two views of CSR, as held by different companies around the world.

Two views of CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility is building up to be the new annual target for the corporates, which aim to instill the value of environment accountability in its respective employees. Moving further, there are two basic views of corporate responsibility, the broader view and the narrow view of corporate social responsibility. These views are based upon the individual preferences of the companies, how they idolise CSR activities to be and what steps they are taking to proceed with the advancement of the company’s reach.

The broader view of corporate responsibility

Here the companies are accountable for taking care of its environment and lending a supporting hand to the improvement of the society around. Most of the Multinational companies and other big national organizations are contributing their part to the improvement of society under the broader view of social responsibility. As a part of these activities, the companies work on the basis of projects and assign its responsibility to the employees who volunteer for making a change to the environment.

In lieu of the benefits the companies provide to its CSR audience, it also gains a lot of appreciation and recognition from its stakeholders. With activities like these, the companies get the chance to register its name in the good books of the clients and transform its potential customers to regular ones. Moreover, as discussed above, when a customer sees his personal choice of brand being associated with a Corporate Social Responsibility, then he takes pride in being associated with the brand and becomes a life- long supporter of the company.

Few of the major goals for CSR activities carried out by giants of today are to reduce energy consumption, minimize the carbon footprints, reduce greenhouse gas emission, improvement in the labor policies and many other contributions towards the betterment of the living standards of the BPL people in different parts of the world. Additionally much has been covered in the examples of CSR activities given above.

Narrow view of Corporate Social Responsibility

The opinions of the practitioners of narrow view of Corporate responsibility are much against the supporters of the broader view of CSR. According to the narrow view, the company's motive should only be aligned towards the achievement of monetary gains for the self- entity. It does not believe in investing time and money in the activities of social reforms.

Also, the biggest supporter of narrow view of social responsibility, Milton Friedman states that if companies will divert their orientations towards social causes then it will reduce the effectiveness of the company’s workforce. He believes that taking care of the environment and the social tasks are the responsibilities of the government and NGOs, the organizations should only direct their vision towards profit yielding services.

However, almost every company today is shifting their approach to work towards a broader view of social responsibility and adapting ways to contribute towards the advancement of society. Also, there are almost zero companies today which are following the narrow view of corporate responsibility, because of which the narrow view can be said to be depleting from most of the rule books of corporates across the Globe.

Moving further, in the next section we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of CSR, with the help of which you get introduced to both sides of the practise.

Advantages of CSR

In the emerging times, corporate social responsibility has become a priority for business organizations across the globe. It is no denying the fact that companies today are focusing their large part of efforts and time in inventing new CSR techniques. This is accredited to the abundance of advantages CSR offers. Below mentioned are some of them

• Enhances brand visibility

  CSR, right from its conception has been recognised as the key to attract a large number of potential customers for the organisation. As companies put more effort into fulfilling their corporate social responsibility of all types, they successfully make it into the headlines for all the positive changes they are bringing into society and the environment. With this, the companies not only get to increase their reputation in the eyes of their existing clients and customers but they also get to attract the attention of a wide audience, without putting any direct efforts towards it.

  This implies that corporate social responsibility helps the companies in enhancing their brand visibility, which ultimately results in gaining a good level of popularity among the existing and potential consumers.

• Increases profitability

  This point is in continuation with the above point. As a student you are ought to understand that with the increase in the visibility of the brand, more and more customers get driven to purchase the products and services being offered by the particular company. Further, the company gains a huge increment in its customer base, which in turn results in a surge in its revenue generation. This way, corporate social responsibility helps business houses in successfully paving their journey towards a wider customer base and thus, increases profitability.

• Brings creativity and innovation

  Corporate Social Responsibility prompts companies to meet with the demands of the changing times. For instance, companies across the globe are now shifting to the utilization of biodegradable resources of energy, to make their active contribution in controlling the levels of pollution in the environment. In order to fulfill this endeavor, companies have to make a transition into creation of new creative and innovative products. This creates new and challenging working environments for its workforce also, which acts as a catalyst to the growth of the employees as well.

  Additionally, ‘Innovation’ in products and services, is one of the simplest ways to capture the attention of the customers. Thus, Corporate social responsibility brings creativity and innovation into the products and services of an organization, as a result of which business houses captivate the attention of customers.

• Promotes cost savings

  As sustainability and pollution control are the growing issues of concern for the entire world, corporate social responsibility prompts the companies to shift towards optimal utilization of the existing resources along with a more biodegradable approach of product generation. As a result, business houses are now following active measures to prevent the wastage of resources and to control pollution. Both these initiatives have promoted cost savings for the organizations. Thus, corporate social responsibility promotes cost savings.

• Helps organizations in combating competition

  As companies begin to actively participate in shouldering their corporate social responsibility, they successfully make their way to the hearts of the customers. Not only do they gain a huge increment in their customer base, they also succeed in retaining their existing customers. This is because along with the new ones, their existing customers also feel more inclined towards the brand, with its growing positive impact. As a result, companies stand strong and attract more customers while retaining the old ones, even in a tough competitive environment. Therefore, Corporate Social Responsibility helps organizations in combating competition.

Disadvantages of CSR

Along with advantages, widely popular and well-accepted CSR activities are also believed to have disadvantages, few of which are discussed below. Also, as a student, you are supposed to know both the sides of the coin and this blog strives to explain each and everything in detail

• Increases the workload and responsibility

  Corporate Social Responsibility enhances the overall workload and responsibility of a company. This is because it binds the company to involve itself in deriving solutions for the growing issues of concern for the world. As a company begins to get involved, in the devising solutions against existing problems in the world such as poverty, hunger and pollution, it exposes itself and its actions completely to an external world, which resides outside its vicinity.

  Under such circumstances, minor shortcomings and failures in the implementations of the strategies of the company, may result in defaming. This defaming may cost the company its valuable customers, who are the lifeblood of its business. Therefore, the company has to take extra care of its actions at all steps, which increases its workload and responsibilities.

• Poses a great threat to reputation with greenwashing

  ‘Greenwashing’ is the term which is used to describe the act of deceit of a company towards its customers, when it falsely claims its products and services to be environment friendly, when they are actually not. It is with the growing number of audits and enhanced news transmission that no such facts go hidden from the customers for long. Once a company gets caught committing the deceit, it is sure to lose the trust of its customers to greenwashing. Under such situations, any further efforts by the company to regain the customers’ trust often prove to be futile. Thus, Corporate Social Responsibility may pose a great threat to the reputation of a company, if it is found guilty of greenwashing.

• Acts as a source of dilemma

  The principle aim of business is to make profits and climb the ladder of success. But corporate social responsibility prompts companies to incorporate various kinds of social responsibilities into their working. As a result, companies often struggle between making a fine balance between their principle aim as well as their corporate social responsibility. Further, read this post on ethical dilemmas in organizations to know more.

  But at times, business organizations get so caught up in one of the things that they fail to pay the desired attention towards the other. This creates a real troubling situation of dilemma for the companies as to what to focus on and what to leave behind. Thus, corporate social responsibility often acts as a source of dilemma for the companies.

• Initial cost of implementation is high

  Corporate Social Responsibility drives companies to bring innovation into their products and services, with respect to the changing needs of the world. For instance, many companies are now shifting to the utilization of renewable sources for the production of energy to run. No doubt, such innovations, and advancements benefit in terms of profitability in the long run, but the initial cost of implementation is really high. Furthermore, it is often that the implementation of such advancements involves a lot of other expenses on planning, structuring, and building of new infrastructure, where expense management can be helpful. Therefore, corporate social responsibility may act as a costly affair for the companies, during initial times

How are companies implementing CSR

As discussed in the upper sections, many companies across the globe are introducing strategies, which direct them step by step towards the achievement of their vision. Additionally, many examples have also been shared which highlight the ways through which these companies actualise their dream and maintain a connection with their audience.

Now, we are going to present you with the case analysis of one company which is highly recognised and respected internationally due to the very principles it follows. The company is known by the name of Wesfarmers and adheres to the sustainable goals of development set by the United Nations. This analysis will help you understand the width and length of the efforts that the company takes in order to ensure a positive impact of its CSR activities in the society.

Before that we are going to introduce a new terminology, which is often used in CSR activities and companies around. It would be helpful for you to understand the scenario in detail.

What is TBL- Triple Bottom Line

The Triple Bottom Line is a broad concept which is based on sustainability. Traditionally, business organizations were only concerned for themselves and worked whole heartedly on deriving maximum profits from their business. Along with this, profit was considered to be the only measure of an organization’s performance in the competitive world. But, with the passing time, as concerns began growing about the deteriorating health of the environment and society, there originated a need for business organizations to look into how their actions are contributing towards the damage being caused, and take corrective measures for its healing.

Therefore, the concept of Triple Bottom Line, based on sustainability was introduced in the world of business. It defines People, Planet and Profit as the three bottom lines with respect to which the performance of an organization should be measured. Also known as the 3 P’s, these pillars have been discussed below in detail.

People

This parameter of the Triple Bottom Line, prompts an organization to take care of its employees, suppliers and the society in general. It inspires companies to give due considerations to the needs and comforts of all the people, who are either directly or indirectly associated with its working. Extending fair wages to the workforce, providing them with a hygienic and properly facilitated workplace and taking actions to help the underprivileged sections of the society are some factors which comprise this ‘P’ of the 3P’s of The Triple Bottom Line. In other words, with this bottom line, the triple bottom line motivates the business organizations to take the initiative of contributing to the society, of which they form a part.

• Planet

  This P of the Triple Bottom Line, comprises the planet, it's environment and its resources. Business organizations have proven to be a major reason for the deteriorating health of the planet, which has resulted in environmental problems such as Global Warming, melting away of the glaciers and ozone layer depletion. It is with the growing concerns for environmental issues that it has become necessary for the companies to take into account the damage they are causing to the planet and its environment, and devise ways to eliminate them.

  As a result, different companies across the globe are shifting towards the manufacturing of environment friendly products along with the utilization of renewable sources for the generation of energy. Furthermore, the consumers have also become considerate about environmental damage, and they prefer brands with active participation in restoring the health of the planet. Thus, it has become extremely important for companies to pave their way towards judicious utilization of resources, minimizing environmental pollution and replenishing the lost health of the planet Earth.

• Profit

  Earning profit is the basic aim behind the establishment of business organizations across the globe. Thus, the goal behind the existence of this P in the Triple Bottom Line concept is far from motivating the business organizations to make profits. Instead, it focuses on making the business organizations understand that it is one thing to strive for making higher profits and causing damage to the environment and the society, is the other.

  This implies that this P for profit, inspires companies to look for those ways to enhance their profitability, which don’t result in damaging impacts on the environment and its inhabitants. Therefore, it inspires every business organization to filter its decisions through all the three P’s- people, planet and profit, before implementing them

The CSR case study- Wesfarmers

A brief about Wesfarmers

Wesfarmers started its operation in 1914 as Western Australian Farmers' Cooperative. The company is headquartered in Perth and is recognised as one of Australia's biggest private employers. Wesfarmers presently employs approximately 105,000 people and its revenue as stated on the company’s website was $27.9 billion, by 30 June 2019.

The diverse fields, in which the company operates include the following:

• Home improvement- apparel and general merchandise
• Office supplies
• Industrial division- chemicals, energy and fertilizers, industrial and safety products.

The company lays strong emphasis on its objective i.e., to deliver a satisfactory return to its shareholders. The company aims to achieve this purpose every year with the help of following methodologies:

• By studying and analysing the needs of its customers and serving a competitive range of services.
• Taking good care of its team members and offering them a safe and contended work environment.
• By maintaining the rightful engagement with its suppliers and sourcing them with all the ethical and sustainable practises.
• Providing a strong support to the communities in which the company does business
• Taking proper care of the environment around the company and its business
• Practising all the dealings of business with integrity and honesty.

All the above mentioned objectives are in alliance with UN sustainable development goals. Wesfarmers has divided its sustainability goals into 5 principals, which ensure the incorporation of maximum of the sustainability goals. Further, the company has named this particular division as Sustainability Home, where it legitimately carries forward all the activities, which are correct and beneficial for people inside its organisation, people outside, society, environment and most importantly Wesfarmers take care of absolute governance.

Additionally, this practise of sustainability, well explains the implication of the Triple Bottom Line theory by Wesfarmefrs. Not only the three P’s of People, Planet and Profit, the company has expanded its vision to much beyond and has provided convenience and fulfillment to people associated with it from around the world.

PEOPLE

Children who have friends in their parents are the happiest. Thus to make your child the happiest, you need to become his best friend. This does not mean you need to play with him at the kindergarten level, it actually means you have to let that kindergarten bond flourish even after your kids start going to school and college. Further, this relation is the bond you will cherish for your life. This part of the sustainability home is directed to take care of the people who belong to Wesfarmers family. The company is highly dedicated towards taking care of its workforce, which is why it takes every possible step to ensure the satisfaction and safety of the employees in its working sectors.

• Safety, Health and Wellbeing

  A considerable importance has been given to the fact that there should be safe workplaces for all the team members of Wesfarmers. In the 2019 analysis, the following accomplishments have been highlighted in this regard

  • The safety management systems and occupational health including the mental, physical and social well being of all the employees, has been found to be sound and happy.
  • The leaders across the various divisions of the working sectors of Wesfarmers are highly considerate and engaged. They showcase a good careful nature towards their teammates.
  • All the relative departments of the company have adopted rightful practises to ensure health, safety and well being of the workers. Along with this many programs are being organised to further improve these areas.
  • All the businesses have been provided with the information programs and communication materials. This is to ensure that the same policies are followed in all the departments of all businesses.
  • Further, the information gained and the feedback drawn is even communicated to all the groups.

• People Development

  The company is focussed towards the growth of its people. It provides them job enhancement opportunities and helps them grow in their career. It believes that its people are its strength and the company takes this as its duty to uplift the career of its employees and pave a path of development for them.

  The company is believed to be the largest employer in Australia, as its total count till 2019 was 105,000 employees. Additionally, in the same year it paid a huge amount of $6.5 Billion as a part of salaries, incentives and wages to its employees. It has around 57% of permanent employees and rest 43%, it terms as its casual team members. In addition to these roles, the company engages various contractors to get its numerous projects accomplished.

  Moreover, the company employs an intergenerational workforce to make sure that it benefits from the advantages of all age groups. Also, it believes that it is because of such a productive combination, that a company can boost its profits. Furthermore, such working scenarios help the organisations create a learning environment inside and benefits the employees to a larger extent.

• Diversity and Inclusion

  Wesfarmers believes in an inclusive work environment, where each employee of its various businesses feel safe and respected. It has incorporated a culture of inclusiveness, innovation and high performance. All this together enables the employees to work in harmony with each other and create an ambience of learning and accountability.

  The company has even developed an inclusion policy, wherein Wesfarmers aims at promoting inclusion and it even favors diversity in the working environment of its group companies. It also lays high emphasis on continuation in its practise of gender balance and a representation of domestic values and environment across team members.

  In one of its campaigns in November 2018, Wesfarmers Industrial Services in association with Transition Hub, conducted an Athlete Transition Program. This particular program aimed at redirecting or reinventing the lives of the sportstar after their sports career. It provided them an opportunity to reinvent their talents and enter the traditional working environments.

Sourcing

The company takes due care of sourcing agents and is connected to maintain a well connected chain with its suppliers and customers. Wesfarmers takes this as its duty to serve its suppliers and sourcing labor with right finances and ethical working conditions.

• Suppliers

  Wesfarmers is committed to build and maintain strong relationships with its suppliers. It worked with more than 14.500 suppliers and in the year 2019 it has paid them $29.6 billion. The company believes in the fact that it is with the help of healthy and collective alliance with the suppliers that the company can responsibly act towards the delivery of its products to the customers.

  Its prominent supplier initiatives are in relation to the accountable sourcing of varied products which contain wood fibre including paper and timber, in the ambiences of Bunnings and Officeworks. Additionally, it accounts for the trustworthy raw material sourcing in Kmart and targeted supply chains. Further to this, it also ensures vigilance over modern slavery in all its business types.

• Ethical sourcing and human rights

  Wesfarmers endeavour to work with the principle of ethical sourcing and along with its suppliers it is determined to improve their environment and social processes. Its various businesses import direct products from over 14,500 suppliers spread across more than 20 countries, including China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, New Zealand and Thailand. Further, throughout its supply chain, it ensures the proper awareness, respect and implication of human rights.

  The company inside and outside the organisation is always on an expansion in its intelligence and practises towards the ethical engagement of product sourcing and human rights. Few of the areas, where it has shown progress in the year 2019, include the following:

  • An expansion in the ethical sourcing and scope of modern slavery: This particular approach is adopted with the vision to include items which are not for resale and respective services throughout the group. The particular enlargement in scope reflects that the company’s various industrial units have shifted their focus on the ethical sourcing of products and modern slavery within their own developed frameworks.
  • A review of all the current resourcing is done on regular basis in order to handle the risks of modern slavery and required adjustments are made accordingly.
  • A policy has been framed by the company to set higher standards of governance for the suppliers and approaches related to ethical sourcing and modern slavery.
  • The risk of modern slavery is being implanted into mergers and acquisitions.
  • Further an online training module has also been introduced in the corporate office of Wesfarmers.

Community

• Product safety and Data privacy

  The company outlines this very task as its prime duty. It considers that offering safe products to its customers and keeping their data intact is of utmost importance. To ensure the proper execution of these values, the company took many initiatives in the year 2019, few of which are mentioned below.

• Economic and Community contributions

  • The company stands by its value of making positive contributions in the range of communities it operates in. Wesfarmers made a total contribution of $48.7 billion in the financial year of 2019.
  • Through its sponsorship program of Wesfarmers Arts sponsorship, the company provided $3.4 million to support the works of 14 leading art organizations. The names include the very reputed systems such as National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Perth Festival, Co3 Contemporary Dance, Awesome Children’s Festival and many others.
  • Wesfarmers constant inclination towards the upliftment of cultural life and arts can be seen in the development of The Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art.
  • It showcases over 300 premier artworks by indegenious Australian artists.
  • Bunnings in collaboration with suppliers introduced innovative products, to positively go along with the expectations of the clients.
  • The quality checking teams of Kmart group in association with the suppliers traced the customers who got hurt using its products. It then conducted a detailed analysis of safety and performance of the products and circumstances.

Environment

The company works very much in accordance with the benefits of the environment. Every step it takes is for the improvement of the surroundings and is concentrated on its vision to give back positively to the environment.

• Climate related disclosures

  • The company firmly supports the 2015 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Paris Climate Agreement (Paris Agreement). It has also adopted various strategies to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
  • It continues to embed climate change strategy, in order to reduce their environmental footprint.
  • From the year 2020, it has started to embed the opportunity assessment and risk management of climate change into the already existing risk reviews and plans.

• Shadow Carbon Price

  A shadow price is applied on carbon, which is to ensure positive reflection of investment decisions and aids in reducing the carbon footprint in a cost effective manner. It further gives an advantage to variable options which possess high emission efficiency.

  It has further many projects aligned where it is working on low carbon technologies.

• Waste and water use

  Wesfarmer takes every effort to minimise its waste on land and water both. Its organisations, WesCEF and Bunnings both take it as a material issue and their senior officials are involved in analysing the risk and opportunities related to water management.

  Bunnings possess 229 rainwater systems spread around the various mainland sites of Australia. The water collected through these sites is then sent to nurseries and as greywater to few sites.

  Many other efforts have been initiated by the company to ensure the minimal wastage of the natural resources.

Governance

The company follows a strong governance structure and policies throughout its businesses. Wesfarmers makes sure that it ethically works upon all the concerning issues with the guiding principles of honesty, integrity, fairness and respect.

It further takes care of the fact that it maintains a transparent working environment with all the stakeholders of the company about its opportunities and sustainability risks. Moreover, it has formed various policies which take good care of the trust of its stakeholders and where everything is dealt with absolute precision and regulation.

All the above mentioned details ensure that Wesfarmers have proven itself as the embodiment of success in following sustainable goals of development as lined up by the UN. The various activities and programs it gets indulged into, helps it reaffirm its statement of creating value for the people of its communities for a longer period of time, by making minimal effect to the environment.

Case Study- Triple Bottom Line Analysis of Gucci

Further to Wesfarmers, here is a detailed analysis of how Gucci, the famous Italian luxury brand of fashion and leather goods, shoulders its corporate social responsibility, in view of the concept of the Triple Bottom Line. The analysis being done is segmented into three parts, which are based on the 3 P’s of The Triple Bottom Line i.e. People, Planet and Profit.

PEOPLE

In line with its mission to shoulder its corporate social responsibility with utmost sincerity Gucci, has been taking powerful steps to ensure the best interest of its employees, suppliers and the society as a whole. In regard to its employees and supplies, Gucci successfully promotes a quality working environment by abiding with the employability standards, ensuring proper working conditions and the safety of its employees.

When talking about the society, Gucci takes the charge of promoting social justice, gender empowerment and creating economic value in the supply chain that can successfully improve the people’s lives by partnering with different organizations working for the welfare of humanity.

Below mentioned is a list of individual initiatives and partnerships it has made to bring a positive change into the society:

• Chime For Change

  Chime For Change is a global campaign which was founded by Gucci, in the year 2013 in order to support the cause of Gender Equality. Chime For Change strives to Unite and strengthen all the voices which are raised against the issue of Gender Inequality. Till date, the campaign has generated nearly $ 16 million, to support various initiatives and programs for Gender Equality across the world.

  Gucci and its Chime for Change campaign has partnered with Artolution to promote empowerment of people, social justice and gender equity. The main highlight of this partnership is that it has helped displaced and traumatized refugees to find empowerment by making murals and interactive sculptures.

• UNICEF’s Girls’ Empowerment

  Gucci is one of the founding members of this initiative. It centers around the advancement of girls in all respects including education, well-being and sanitation.

• Local Initiatives in Italy

  This brand from Italy, has also been taking a number of initiatives locally in Italy. Be Kind and Be Aware Now are examples of programs which Gucci has supported locally in Italy.

• I was a Sari

  Gucci joined hands with the I was a Sari, to change and transform the lives of talented women in Mumbai, India.

Planet and Environment:

In line with the second P of the Triple Bottom Line, Gucci has taken a strong stand to protect the planet and its Environment. It constantly sets higher targets for itself to promote the overall well-being of the planet with its Environmental Policy. Further, Gucci has even formulated its Environmental Policy, in commitment to its Corporate Social Responsibility. In regard to this policy, this famous brand from Italy, is committed towards implementing a Culture of Environmental Sustainability in its system. It has been actively engaged in reducing the environmental impact due to its working, along with safeguarding the flora and fauna. Below mentioned are some initiatives Gucci has taken to safeguard the planet and its environment.

• Gucci claims to be completely carbon neutral today

  In order to contribute its part in reducing the emission of Greenhouse gases in the environment, Gucci has successfully become carbon neutral, with all its active efforts to eliminate carbon emission from its supply chain.

• Moving towards Sustainable Raw Materials

  Gucci is constantly striving to look for and transit to the usage of more sustainable raw materials for the manufacturing of its products.

• Waste Management

  In line with its commitment to utilize the resources of the planet in a judicious and efficient manner, Gucci is running various programs for waste and food management. Some examples of programs being supported by Gucci for Waste Management include, Scrap less leather, Gucci for circular economy and Waste food management by partnering with Siticibo, an Italian Food waste initiative.

Profit

Coming to the third bottom line, in the concept of Triple Bottom Line, Gucci is fulfilling its aim of making profit from its business, with due care and consideration to the people and the planet. This can be validated from the different initiatives it has taken for the betterment of the people and the planet.

As a whole it would not be wrong to say that Gucci is actively working on enacting its Corporate Social Responsibility efficiently, in view of the concept of Triple Bottom Line.

As rightly quoted by Henry David Thoreau, if the companies invest their profits in goodness, then it will help them yield more benefits out of it. Thus, it is crucial for the sustainable growth of every organization to get itself engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility and play their part in the proper functioning of its people, planet and environment.